Thursday, May 21, 2015

On Wednesday, a report surfaced that the Lakers were planning to make a run at Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau,
who by all accounts is not long for Chicago. It seemed like the report
originated from either the Bulls or from Thibodeau’s camp, trying to
either drum up interest around the league or create a bidding war. Now,
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has gone on record saying that, from his end,
it’s just a rumor.

Kupchak went on Fox Sports Radio with host Bill Reiter (audio here) and addressed the rumors:

I saw something about that this morning, and my first
thought was, ‘Let me call [Lakers coach] Byron [Scott] and let him know
that the agents are doing their job, and pay no attention.’ Not that I
think Byron reads any of that stuff, but someone may call him and say
‘Hey, guess what I just read?’ Nothing to it. We’re incredibly happy
with Byron. That’s what representatives and agents do. They try to
create a marketplace for their guy, and I’m not saying that’s exactly
what happened here, but we’re very, very happy with Byron, and after I
hang up with you I’m going to call him or text him.

That’s a pretty strong on-the-record denial from Kupchak.

The two teams that have been most strongly linked to Thibodeau in recent
months are Orlando and New Orleans, and it’s still most probable that
he ends up taking one of those two jobs. The Lakers are an intriguing
possibility, but it’s not really feasible for them to get him this year.